#2.1 – Brera Tracker

It may or may not come as a surprise, but Brera facilities have not improved from the basic level that we started the save with. Our reputation has not increased as of yet, but with semi-pro football on the horizon, I am expecting to see this slowly but surely rise over the coming years.

Again, no changes at this time for the club other than increased finances. Whilst we may have scope to make small improvements in terms of staff, the facilities as a whole will be put to the side until we are on the outskirts of Serie D or even Serie C.

As predicted last season, the reputation status of the Milan clubs was going to yo-yo over the years, and it has done here as AC Milan has reclaimed their worldwide status once again. Advancements in the modern game have meant their training facilities have fallen behind, but their okay financial status may hinder the improvement of this for the next couple of years – they would need a consistent run in the Champions League to bring this back up once again to make any necessary improvements.

Bank Balance

	19th July 2021	1st June 2022	1st June 2023
Bank Balance	£5,442	£35,167	£228,300
Movement		+ £29,725	+ £193,133

The club projection shows the club having circa £684K in the bank account by the end of the 2023/24 season; £1.16 million in the account by the end of the following season which is going to be massive if we obtain promotion in the new season.

So with a currently healthy bank account, that is only going to strengthen, how did our finances stack up elsewhere?

Revenue

Frustratingly for the club, our revenue did not grow with a step-up in divisions. Key factors to take from this:

• Season tickets were averaged out at £57.46 per ticket. Whilst I anticipated an uptake of tickets following a promotion, we only sold 1 extra season ticket compared to last season.
• Our attendance for the season was actually down in comparison to the previous season. 15 league games and 2 friendlies were played out at the Arena Civica Gianni Brera, with all our cup games coming away from home. Applying the same logic as last season, 2,704 fans came through the turnstiles, and assuming all 41 season ticket holders attended every match, each fan was charged on average £5.90 per game – down from £7.38 last season.
• Corporate Facilities also took a hit with a reduced attendance throughout the season.

However, the club is certainly generating substantial amounts of revenue through sponsorship (despite it being down this season), so I am not overly worried about finances at this stage. It must be said that we need to be able to produce more match-day income through increased attendances so that when we do become semi-professional, we are not solely relying on the sponsors to pay the player’s wages.

Sponsorship, in general, was down in comparison to our maiden season, and this was primarily down to the loss of a general sponsor. Despite losing this sponsor, our reduction in sponsorship money was only down by a per cent, which was recovered with the extra season ticket sold.

We did agree on an additional kit sponsor last summer which was worth £71K over 2 years. This was about 4.5 times less than the general sponsor that did expire during the season, but I was glad to still be bringing a bit of sponsorship money in as opposed to missing out on £84K per annum.

We do have a general sponsoring that will expire before the season is out (29th February 2024) but the board agreed on a new sponsorship on the 11th of June over 2 years worth £170,000 so we should be able to absorb this loss and seek a new sponsorship when the time is right.

Expenditure

With a bit of work still required on excel to get the condition formatting correct, I can see that our spending doubled against the same time last year. Primarily down to paying the taxman a lot more money given our financially successful seasons, I could take great confidence from these results that we are certainly being financially prudent when it comes to spending the money:

• Scouting Costs were not wasted as they were last season, with the only costs arising from watching individual players instead of setting up assignments.
• The increase in travel costs can be attributed to the three extra away games we played in the cup.
• Club exposure through the use of advertising saw an increase, along with general supplies for the club throughout the season.

As a club, we still remain debt-free which is the way I wish to continue running the club.

Future Projections

With another year of trading under our belt, the future is looking bright for the club. Turnover is expected to grow, albeit at a steady rate, whilst expenditure is slowly rising is it not overly noticeable. Banking profits this early on are massive for the club, especially as I look to improve the club’s infrastructure and footballing department.

A glance to the future suggests that we are only a season away from facing off with semi-professional clubs, meaning our status could be changing within the next 2 years. This will be a massive change for the club and one that the projections are not calculating due to the board’s expectations for the new season. However, I have to continue to aim high and hope that we can press on and bank the third promotion in a row.

There is an element of risk involved in winning promotions as quick as we are, as some could argue that the club may not be as financially secure to deal with the demands of semi-professional football. There is no guarantee we will make the move from amateur to semi-pro. All I can hope for in the Promozione B is that the fans flock to the stadium and get behind the team.

Exciting times are on the horizon on and off the field. It is time to soar.